Leave it to Martha. I always say that the one thing I admire about Martha Stewart is the fact that she posts such amazing  ideas without making you feel overwelmed by a sales pitch.

At any rate, if you happen to have a sweater or two with a hole in it, or you just don’t wear it anymore, recycle it! Re-fashion it! Make it into a cool toy for your kiddos!

Neat, right? Go to the Martha Stewart page where you can learn to make your own felted sweater stuffie.

Got more sweaters? Go to this Squidoo lens for more fun sweater inspiration!

I have to say, I am pretty lucky. I mean, I have a lot of positives in my life: my kids, my husband, and my life…so far,it’s all good.

I say this because a lot of times other moms and other people in general can be jealous, especially here in New York City where everything is about competition.

I detest competition.  I really do. I mean, what’s the point, you know? Look, the way I see it,if you’re unhappy with your life, change it. If it didn’t turn out the way you expected it, make choices. AND look at the choices you made. YOU made the choices in your life, so don’t blame me.

The truth is we all go through shit. We all go through darkness and hard times. How you deal with it is what matters.

In other news, Dharma has been nicknamed Dharmita by my mother in law and daughter Dakota. Cute, right?

Her name means a lot to me. A couple years back, I was in a dark place. An aquaintance of mine, in an email gave me some advice, and closed the email with wishing that the Dharma would bring me the peace and clarity that I saught for. It did. So when I named my daughter, I chose the name Dharma because of what it means to me.

For buddists, the dharma is the teachings of the Buddha. The word means many things, but mainly that’s what it means to me.

I’m telling you all of this because I want to say that no matter what anyone says, I am proud of my girls and their names. Someone I know who bears the same last name as me and the same DNA type as me, decided that she did not want to call my daughter by her name, it being what she called an “indian” name, and a religious one at that. She refuses to even utter the name of my child, so as to not accept my lifestyle.  It’s sad for this person, because in doing so, she is choosing to not be in my life.

But that is the choice she is making. My life will move on, and my daughters will grow up with a grandmother (my MIL) that takes care of them, buys them gifts without conditions, and does not take a four year old’s rough housing personally.

On another note, my daughter is going to be five this May. FIVE! I cannot believe it! Wow. Looking back, I have a friend that I met when my daughter Dakota was just a few months old, and this summer that will be five years ago. We’ve been friends since then. Friendship is amazing.  I won’t say that her & I are at each other’s house every week and talk on the phone a lot, etc. But she is consistent, and that matters to me. She’s consistent in the things that matter. We get together every now and again, we catch up and chat about writing, motherhood, and other things.

Today’s post is rawther sappy. I know. But what can I say, I’m in a grateful mood. I guess that’s what happens when you’re happy.

It all comes down to limits. We limit ourselves so much, and in so many ways. As children, we dream big gigantic dreams, and have hopes…then as adults we squash them with our own small minds and our need to rationalize everything.

I say go big or go home. Dream big dreams. Don’t worry about how or when. Don’t think yourself too old. You’re never to old to dream. It’s like Cinderella once said: “A dream is a wish your heart makes”.

Putting one foot in front of the other will come when you choose to believe in your dreams. So go ahead. The bigger the better. Live out loud. Life is too short for anything less.

CLICK HERE to purchase

Anyway, he’s in a movie where he says, “I like them french fried potaters” quite a lot and I find that to be hilarious! I mean, I live in New York. Who says that around these parts? No one, that’s who.

So, it’s Valentine’s Day. I’ve said before that I’m not a holiday crafter. But having a four year old in preschool requires that I be just that. So, in enters the lovely dried up potater.

Now, I used a dried up potato for two reasons:

a)I was all out of potatos

b) I didn’t want to waste the one lonely little potato. At least he went to a good cause before his eminent death.

So, get yourself a heart shaped cookie cutter, and a potater. Or a potato. And cut it in half.

Press the cookie cutter into potato, making a heart shaped cut into your dried up vegetable. Then, cut out the outside, leaving only the heart. This makes your stamp.

I used Plaid Crafts brand paint in various shades of red, and Dick Blick paint in white (to make pink).

I recommend brushing the paint onto them, and stamping them, rather than just dipping them, as you would a regular stamp. Brush the paint on, and stamp it.

So, today’s motto? Next time, don’t throw away that old dried up potater. You could make art with it, instead!

It’s monday. I’m a mommy. Get it?

This here, is Dharma. She of course, makes sure that mommy has to wear eyeliner (to distract from the circles under the eyes, you know).

Oh, I know she’s cute. But did you know she ALSO has a special talent for waking mommy at six o’clock in the morning on a saturday too? Yes folks,  she sure does. This is especially fun when mommy has been up late with daddy watching back episodes of The Walking Dead on DVD.  Four hours of sleep? No problem! Coffee to the rescue.

This week, baby Dharma will officially be 2 months old. I can’t believe it. To further add to my feeling of disbelief is the fact that my daughter Dakota will be five years old this May. I CANNOT believe it. As cliche as it sounds, it friggin really does feel like just yesterday I brought her home from the hospital, that little fussy girl who did not ever want to take the bottle or be held by anyone but mommy, who kicked off her swaddled sheets from birth and still kicks off her sheets to this day.

Where the hell does the time go? All of the sudden I’ve got greys. What the heck!

Anyway, LOOK at what I found on Pinterest:

Do you KNOW what this is? It is FABRIC. To make a cloth baby book! You can get it from Spoonflower.

I’m going to make this. YES. You realize something tho, right? You realize that I will have to make two of these, both the same. One for two month old, and another for my four year old who every now and then, gets a tinge of jealousy.

Motherhood really is rewarding and amazing but it really is taxing on the body, isn’t it? I haven’t any “cure all” but I will say that juicing is helping me with my energy level. AND…AND I am finally going to encapsulate my placenta. It’s gross, I know. But the placenta is full of nutrients and things that give mommy energy and vitality to get through those hairy days when you just have no sleep and little to eat ( due to baby holding, baby fussiness, etc). There are a plethora of websites you can visit about placenta drying/preserving/encapsulating, but here is one and two. I know it’s a little late in the game for me to do this (usually it’s done right away). But in truth, I have no one to help me do this, and now is when I have a bit of extra time to dedicate to it. And frankly, I could use the help.

But I’m going to order this fabric, I AM. I really am. I’ll do it with my income tax returns since at the moment, I frankly cannot see myself spending that kind of money on fabric. Speaking of income tax returns, shall you be doing anything interesting with yours? I’m buying myself a really nice set of watercolor pencils. And yarn of course.  And paper. And paint.

What are you getting yourself with your tax returns?

I call it the “Purple Haze” Shawl. I used a very nice Merino wool blend (100% wool but a blend of wools). If you want to, you can have the pleasure of buying it from my shop (and thereby, enabling me to buy more yarn).

I haven’t slept well in a few days. The past couple days, baby Dharma thinks it amusing to wake up a few minutes after I put her down for a nap. Then at night, she further thinks it amusing to just spontaneously wake up at 3 and 5 am, wide awake with no desire whatsoever to go back to sleep. Just great for me, the mommy who has to wake up at 6:30 to bring my little one to Pre-K.

I’m really trying to be healthy. Yesterday I ate a few oreos. I’m sorry, I can’t help it. They beckoned me. But today, I promise I will indeed try to ignore the call of sweet delicious oreo cookies dipped in milk. I swear.

That’s all for now

What happens in between our childhood and our adulthood? In between our baby hairs and our grey hairs, we….become jaded; we lose sight of who we are and instead trade it in for convenience and a job that pays the rent and bills.

But what if we took Picasso’s advice to heart? What if we did indeed decide to carelessly pursue our creativity without judgments or limitations?

What would YOU do?